Chapter 223: Trial Of Lord [8]

The next morning, Elias went to Gram’s house and found the old man in high spirits, still delighted by the gold necklace he had discovered near the river.

Seeing Gram alive and well brought Elias an unexpected sense of relief. For a moment, he simply stood there, watching the old man move about with his usual cheerfulness, before approaching him.

"Give me the necklace," Elias said.

Gram’s cheerful expression immediately soured, and he frowned at the young man standing before him.

"What? Why should I give it to you? Get out of my house!" the old man exclaimed, waving his hand dismissively.

However, Elias remained where he was, staring directly into Gram’s eyes. His expression grew cold, and when he spoke again, his voice carried a weight that made the old man’s movements falter.

"If you wish to live, give me that necklace."

Gram froze.

As he met Elias’s gaze, an inexplicable chill crept down his spine. It felt as though he were being stared down by a beast, or perhaps something far more terrifying—a demon wearing a human face.

The old man swallowed nervously, and after hesitating for a moment, he reluctantly retrieved the necklace and held it out.

"Here. Take it," Gram mumbled.

Elias accepted it with a smile and patted the old man’s shoulder.

"Good choice."

He then turned around and left the house, leaving Gram standing there in bewilderment.

Now, he only needed to wait two weeks for Monica to arrive and another week for Stella to appear. Once both women were with him, he would have the two pieces he needed to defeat the Rotted.

Clenching his fist, Elias headed toward the village blacksmith’s workshop. However, instead of asking the blacksmith to forge a sword for him, he decided to make one himself.

He had examined Stella’s sword during his previous attempts and remembered its shape and proportions quite clearly. Although he had never forged a weapon before, he felt confident that he could reproduce it.

Elias gathered the necessary materials and began working, carefully shaping the metal and repeatedly adjusting the blade until he was satisfied with its form. The process proved more difficult than he had anticipated, but he persevered, correcting every flaw he noticed rather than settling for an inferior result.

After three days of work, he finally finished.

Resting on the anvil was a sword with a blade slightly wider than that of a typical knight’s sword.

Elias picked it up and examined the blade, turning it beneath the light before testing its balance in his hand.

"Lastbane," he murmured, settling on a name. "The final piece in the Rotted’s destruction."

With the sword ready, he resumed his training, practicing whenever he had free time and gradually refining his movements. He also continued spending quiet moments with Natasha, sharing meals with her and helping with their daily chores whenever necessary.

Although he knew he would eventually return to the beginning of the loop, he did not neglect her entirely. Instead, he allowed himself to enjoy their time together while keeping his attention fixed on the task ahead.

Eventually, Monica arrived in the other village, just as he had expected.

Elias approached her and offered her the gold necklace in exchange for her help defending their village for a month. Since Monica needed money, she readily accepted the arrangement, and the two agreed on the terms without difficulty.

Then came Stella.

When Monica learned about the Rotted’s impending arrival, she immediately began discussing how they could minimize the damage it would cause. She explained that the village needed to hide its animals, burn the surrounding grass, and remove or burn the crops before the creature reached them. Otherwise, the Rotted could grow stronger simply by moving through the area and consuming everything in its path.

Naturally, the villagers opposed the proposal. They had spent considerable time raising their animals and cultivating their crops, and the thought of destroying their own livelihoods seemed absurd to them.

However, Natasha eventually managed to persuade them.

With her patience and compassion, she explained why the sacrifices were necessary and convinced the villagers to cooperate, even though many remained reluctant. Once the preparations were complete, the village stood ready to face the approaching threat.

When the Rotted finally arrived, Stella met it with her sword, Monica supported her with magic, and the villagers followed the defensive plan they had prepared. Their combined efforts slowed the creature’s expansion considerably, preventing it from consuming the surrounding land as quickly as it had in Elias’s earlier attempts.

For a while, their strategy appeared to be working.

However, the Rotted continued advancing, and no matter how effectively Stella attacked or how much magic Monica unleashed, neither could deal enough damage to destroy its enormous body. The creature gradually overwhelmed their defenses, and one by one, the people Elias had hoped to save lost their lives.

Even Stella, Monica, and Natasha could not escape their fate.

As the Rotted consumed the last remnants of the village, Elias finally understood the flaw in his approach.

It was him.

Unlike Stella, Monica, and Natasha, he had contributed little to the village’s survival. Stella possessed the swordsmanship needed to fight the creature, Monica had the magic to strengthen their defenses, and Natasha could bring the villagers together through her compassion. Elias, however, had neither their skills nor their influence, and his presence had done little to change the outcome.

But that realization did not discourage him.

Repetition was the mother of learning, and unlike ordinary people, he could repeat his attempts as many times as necessary. Each failure taught him something new, and every time he returned to the cottage, he had another opportunity to improve.

He only needed to keep learning until he found a way to win.

The next attempt began differently.

After forging Lastbane, Elias did not remain in the village or spend his time with Natasha. He knew he would eventually return to this place, and for now, he had more important things to accomplish.

Instead, he followed the river toward the mountains and continued along its banks until he reached the narrow paths beyond the village. He climbed through the rugged terrain, searching for the place where Stella had first encountered the Rotted in his previous attempts.

After several days of traveling, he finally found her.

The Rotted was there as well, although its body was considerably smaller than the creature that had destroyed the village. Its black-tar mass was roughly the size of a carriage, and its countless eyes shifted across the surrounding landscape while its tentacles writhed against the ground.

However, there was one more person.

Standing nearby was another crimson-haired woman, this one missing an arm. The moment Elias saw her, an inexplicable feeling of familiarity washed over him, much like the sensation he experienced whenever he encountered Stella or Monica.

Before he could approach her, the woman suddenly shouted, "Stella!"

The injured knight turned toward her, and the woman continued with an expression that brooked no argument.

"From this moment forward, you are the knight captain of this Imperial Order."

Stella’s eyes darkened upon hearing those words, and before Elias could understand what was happening, the one-armed woman raised her sword and slammed it into the ground.

A tremendous impact shook the mountainside.

Cracks spread beneath her feet, tearing through the rocky surface as the ground shattered with a deafening rumble. The cliff began to collapse, and both the woman and the Rotted were dragged downward by the falling rocks.

Stella, who was still injured, lost her footing as the earth crumbled beneath her. She began falling toward the river below, but Elias reacted immediately, lunging forward and catching her before she could plunge into the water.

"Holy shit..." he mumbled, tightening his grip around the unconscious knight.

He glanced toward the collapsing cliff, but the one-armed woman and the Rotted had already disappeared beneath the falling debris.

Elias exhaled slowly before looking down at Stella, who had lost consciousness during the fall. Since he could not determine whether the Rotted had been destroyed, he decided to focus on the woman he had managed to save.

Carrying her in his arms, he searched the surrounding area until he found a crude cottage. He brought her inside, laid her on a bed, and began treating her injuries as carefully as Natasha had done during his previous attempts.

Although his knowledge of medicine was limited, he remembered the procedures Natasha had used to treat Stella before, and he followed them as closely as he could. He cleaned her wounds, applied medicinal herbs, and ensured that she had enough water before settling down to wait for her recovery.

Stella finally awoke the following morning.

After briefly examining her surroundings, she noticed Elias sitting nearby and immediately became wary. However, once he explained how he had found her and brought her to the cottage, she gradually relaxed enough to recount what had happened.

Her story was much the same as before. Her unit had been ambushed by the Rotted, most of her companions had been killed, and she had barely managed to survive.

Elias listened without interrupting, occasionally nodding to show that he understood.

When she finished, he asked, "Do you think you can defeat the Rotted?"

Stella fell silent, her expression darkening as she considered the question.

After a while, she shook her head. "Not with my current strength. Its body is too large, and it keeps growing as it consumes everything around it."

Elias nodded thoughtfully before making his proposal.

"Then teach me. If we work together, I might be able to help you defeat it."

Stella studied him with a puzzled expression.

"Why would you do that?" she asked. "You barely know me, and you have no reason to risk your life for my revenge."

Elias met her gaze without hesitation.

"I want to help you with your revenge," he said.

He deliberately avoided mentioning the other settlements threatened by the Rotted. If Stella learned that nearby villages might also be in danger, she would likely abandon their training and rush to help them, leaving him with little time to improve his own abilities.

This time, he had no intention of fighting the Rotted before he was ready. Instead, he wanted to use the opportunity to hone his skills, learn from Stella, and understand what it would take to fight a creature that had repeatedly killed him.

After considering his proposal, Stella eventually agreed.

As her injuries gradually healed, she began teaching him swordsmanship, starting with the fundamentals and correcting the flaws in his movements. She quickly discovered that Elias possessed considerable talent, particularly in his ability to recognize patterns and adapt his techniques to different situations.

More surprisingly, he had already begun developing a sword style of his own.

Rather than forcing him to abandon it and imitate her movements, Stella helped him refine what he had created, showing him how to improve his transitions between defense and offense while maintaining control of his sword. Under her guidance, Elias gradually learned to turn an opponent’s attacks into opportunities and to move without wasting unnecessary effort.

Their training sessions grew longer as the days passed, and Stella began sharing more about herself during their breaks. She told him about the Empire, her life as an Imperial knight, and the experiences that had shaped her into the swordswoman she was today.

In return, Elias listened attentively, asking questions whenever something caught his interest and offering his own thoughts when she spoke about swordsmanship. Their conversations gradually became more personal, and the time they spent together brought them closer than either had initially expected.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months.

Elias continued training relentlessly, correcting his weaknesses and incorporating Stella’s lessons into his own sword style. His movements grew sharper, his reactions faster, and his understanding of the sword deepened until he could spar with Stella without being completely overwhelmed.

Eventually, he reached a level where his swordsmanship was no different from hers.

By then, the time they had spent together had also changed their relationship. They had shared their vulnerabilities, learned to trust each other, and grown accustomed to having the other nearby. Stella no longer regarded him as a stranger who had offered to help with her revenge, while Elias had come to appreciate the woman behind the Imperial knight’s stern exterior.

One day, Stella finally suggested that they search for the Rotted.

Elias agreed.

Before they departed, the two stood facing each other outside the cottage. Stella looked at him for a long moment, and then they leaned toward each other and shared a deep kiss.

When they finally parted, Elias gently brushed his fingers against her cheek.

Then, without giving her time to react, he raised Lastbane and plunged the blade into his own neck.

His life ended instantly, and the next attempt began right away.